4.23.2011

The Goblet of Knowledge

One of the things that struck me about Western when first arrived was the bars on campus. IU had a strict "dry campus" policy (in quotation marks for a reason), but Western has The Spoke, that's known for having an undergrad crowd, and the Grad Club, which, as its name implies, is for graduate students. The Grad club allows undergrads or whoever to eat and drink there, but grads get a discount on food, and they have a sign that tells undergrads to behave themselves and not pester their TAs while inside.

When you graduate, the Grad Club gives you a free beer (can a Westerner confirm this for me?) in what they call the Goblet of Knowledge, a fancy goblet that they keep on display behind the bar. This week, my friend Emilie defended for her master's degree in music theory, so after our students' final on Thursday, we went to the Grad Club for her drink from The Goblet.

Congrats, Emilie! She's moving on to a degree for the more socially adjusted and going to law school at the University of Toronto.

This week in food, I only have a couple of things to show you. One night this week we repeated the delicious fish tacos from a couple months ago. The other two dishes we made were both real winners.

First, Enormous Salad with curried cashews, pears, and grapes with a dijon dressing.

Here's the recipe. We were both really happy with it, but we'll probably be moving on to a new salad-of-the-week for next week. The ripe pear was a really interesting flavor with the curried cashews, and the nuts were also prepared with butter and brown sugar. I don't really know how that could have turned out badly. The original recipe also calls for a couple strips of bacon, fried and crumbled. I felt like it would have been a nice addition, but the salad works fine without it.

Oh. mah. gawd, this is good. I've never had anything quite like it. The adobo from the chipotles and the raspberries go incredibly well together, and I would never have thought to combine them. The almonds add a little crunch, and the broccoli makes it a really complete meal, nutritionally. I will definitely make this again!

This weekend we have some potluck plans for Easter, so I'll have pictures of that to come. Have a great weekend!